THE HAWTHORN. 145 



less pleasure to the simpler, who has used its flowers from 

 immemorial time as an astringent anodyne. There is 

 no beauty in any part of this plant, except its pale crim- 

 son flowers, which are always partially faded at the ex- 

 tremity or unopened at the base, so that a perfect cluster 

 cannot be found. The leaves are of a pale imperfect 

 green on the upper surface and almost white beneath, 

 and without any beauty. The uprightness of this plant, 

 and the spiry form of its floral clusters, has gained it the 

 name of " Steeplebush," from our church-going ancestors. 



THE HAWTHORN. 



FEW trees have received a greater tribute of praise 

 from poets and poetical writers than the Hawthorn, 

 which in England especially is consecrated to the pastoral 

 muse and to all lovers of rural life. The Hawthorn is 

 also a tree of classical celebrity. Its flowers and branches 

 were used by the ancient Greeks at wedding festivities, 

 and laid upon the altar of Hymen in the floral games of 

 May, with which from the earliest times it has been as- 

 sociated. In England it is almost as celebrated as the 

 'rose, and constitutes the most admired hedge-plant of 

 that country. It is, indeed, the beauty of this shrub that 

 forms the chief attraction of the English hedge-rows, 

 which are not generally clipped, but allowed to run up 

 and bear flowers. These are the principal beauties of the 

 plant ; for its leaves are neither luxuriant nor flowing. 



The Hawthorn in this country is not associated with 

 hedge-rows, which with us are only matters of pride 

 and fancy, not of necessity, and their formal clipping 

 causes them to resemble nature only as a wooden post 

 resembles a tree. Our admiration of the Hawthorn, 



7 j 



